We passed through once-in-a-century experiences in pandemics. Covid-19 changed the world a lot, as well as the venture scene. In that once-in-a-century era, we saw lots of craziness in stocks, cryptos, venture capital, etc. Since Q2-2022, all cryptocurrencies, stocks, and venture investments started to turn down; as inflation came, central banks began increasing interest rates, Russia-Ukraine War appeared, and thus panic arose. 

What we saw in 2020 and 2021 could not be sustainable. Nasdaq stocks hit record highs, enormous startup valuations, and cryptos were going like crazy. That was not because of real value creation but money printing. Treasuries and central banks tried incredible monetary and fiscal expansion to escape the potential risks of the Covid-19 outbreak. For example, through quantitative easing, FED’s balance sheet ($4 trillion in March 2020) saw a $9 trillion record high level at the beginning of 2022. However, as inflation concerns and bubble doubts confused people, FED started shrinking its balance sheet and increasing interest rates. The other central banks have been following this trend. Also, Russia-Ukraine War appeared, which has had several negative consequences, including a decrease in investors’ risk appetite, the potential economic downturn in the global economy, especially for Europe, due to the Gas resources Russia owes, and so on. 

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This economic downturn affected the startup scene, as expected. Venture investments are decreasing to $329.2 B in 2022(so far) as opposed to $621 B in 2021(in total). We see many tech giants reducing their workforce by firing lots of employees. Many startups and tech giants could not count the risk realistically in 2020 and 2021. They burnt vast amounts of money and expanded without considering potential future circumstances. Those led to the firing of employees for some. However, there are the ones that raised incredible capital from investors that turned into total failures. What is creepy about the 2022 venture scene is some companies that raised hundreds of millions of dollars (or even billions) went bankrupt. 

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‍Here are 5 incredible failure stories of 2022: ‍

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‍FTX

Traders use FTT to do tasks such as paying transaction fees. Last year, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao sold his position in FTX back to Mr. Bankman-Fried, who paid for it partially with FTT tokens.

On November 2, the crypto publication CoinDesk reported on a leaked document claiming that Mr. Bankman-Fried's fund, Alameda Research, possessed an unusually significant amount of FTT tokens. Mr. Bankman-Fried founded FTX in 2019 in response to Alameda's need for capital to run its trading operation. However, the way the two businesses were structured meant that when crypto values began to fall in the spring, it rattled the other.

FTX declared bankruptcy in early November after Binance backed out of a plan to save the company.

Mr. Ray, the new FTX CEO, filed for bankruptcy on Thursday, describing multiple corporate blunders, including the deployment of software to "conceal the misappropriation of consumer monies." Mr. Ray also stated in the complaint that he could not trust the financial statements compiled under Mr. Bankman-direction. Fried's

Hundreds of thousands of consumers who put their holdings on the FTX platform have had their funds jeopardized. Mr. Ray's team has obtained approximately $740 million in cryptocurrencies belonging to segments of FTX's business, an amount he described as "just a fraction" of what he hoped to recover.

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‍CommonBond
CommonBond, a student loan lending organization, has discreetly revealed that it will be 'winding down its operations after its main businesses took a hit during the pandemic.' In a LinkedIn article, CommonBond cofounder and CEO David Klein stated that, despite pivoting to a focus on residential solar panel loans, the impact of the student loan payment delay made it difficult to sustain the business. Before, CommonBond raised $1.3 B in total from investors, including BMO Capital, Barclays Bank, Citibank, and Goldman Sachs.
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Fast
One-click checkout startup Fast has shut down entirely and withdrew its products and brand." It's a shocking failure for a fintech startup that had earned $120 million in capital from investors like Stripe, Index Ventures, and Lee Fixel's Addition. Fast's goal has been to revolutionize online shopping by making it easier to check out across various retailers.
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Nice Tuan
Costs climbed disproportionately as it expanded into small towns. To attract customers, goods were sold at a discount. To reach sales targets, fake buyers materialized at each month's end. Regulators were concerned.

Nice Tuan had a sales target of 80 billion yuan in 2021 but only made 2 billion in a good month. Meituan, Nice Tuan, Pinduoduo, and Xingsheng Youxuan were all fined 1.5 million yuan in March for fraud and dumping. Nice Tuan was penalized in May for deceptive advertising. 'The fines severely restricted our hands,' explained a former employee. 'We couldn't perform the kinds of promotions our competitors did, affecting sales.'

Before, Nice Tuan raised $1.2 B from investors like Alibaba Group, GGV Capital, and DST Global.‍

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Reali‍

Homebuyer-focused startups fail as loan rates and inflation rise, and inventory shortages persist in many areas." Reali, the latest casualty in the area, has revealed that it has commenced a closure and will lay off most of its personnel on September 9. In a news release, Amit Haller, co-founder, and chairman stated that "the adverse real estate and financial market conditions, as well as the unfavorable capital-raising conditions, led to the decision to wind down operations.